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Christmas

[In answer to the question of whether it is appropriate for an atheist to celebrate Christmas:]

Yes, of course. A national holiday, in this country, cannot have an exclusively
religious meaning. The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than
the tenets of any particular religion: it is good will toward men—a frame of
mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be part, but
is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion.

The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a
cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry
Christmas”—not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a
material, earthly form—by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending
them cards in token of remembrance . . . .

The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the
fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates
an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a
single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by
department stores and other institutions—the Christmas trees, the winking
lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display,
which only “commercial greed” could afford to give us. One would have to be
terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.